End of Week 1 - Nakhon Phanom

The end of my first week ended a hell of a lot better than it started! I got moved to new accommodation on the Friday evening which was amazing; it even has hot water and doesn't have any 8 legged friends living there, raise the roof!! Also, I'm living next to another ETA (Steven) which is great.

We spent the weekend relaxing in the area of Na Kae in Nakhon Phanom and visiting lots of temples as it was a long four day holiday (ta Buddha). We went to That Phanom which was lovely and we saw the Buddhist routine of praying and showing respect; they light incense and lay lotus flowers. After that we went to the Mekong river which marks the Thailand/Laos border, followed by a trip to watch a candle parade. I got to see a baby elephant too!

My new little house next to another ETA

 

Korean BBQ

A temple in Na Kae

Paddy fields

Paddy fields

That Phanom

Tourist at That Phanom

Mekong River - Thailand/Laos border

 

 

 

Parade at That Phanom

 

Buddhist rituals

 

A decorated dragon

The biggest candle ever

 

Cute fountains

 

Huge Thai butterflies

A Bug's Life

Arriving at Placement

Having waited 4 hours in a bus station (no idea why we had to get there so early) and travelling for 12 hours on a bus, we finally arrived in Na Kae in the province of Nakhon Phanom. The sub-director took me straight to my accommodation and I immediately had second thoughts about the trip. On the surface it looked okay but the whole place was crawling with thousands of red ants, mosquitos, tiny ants that eat your food, lizards, big spiders and beetles. You couldn't go to the sink without the fear that the spiders hanging above you were going to drop on your head! (If anyone knows me, spiders are like my arch rival, so we didn't get on well at all in the apartment). The sub-director gave me an hour to relax and then I was to head straight to school and meet everyone, introduce myself in an assembly of 1000 students and to start teaching a class of 50 16 year olds right away.

Overall, the whole day was very hot, extremely overwhelming and I hadn't slept properly for days. I got back to my apartment, after being taken around the town by my mentor and after being taken out for dinner by my Director and his friends, and having looked on facebook, I realised that I felt how everyone else did that evening too.

 

Living alone in a little house full of bugs, isolated in an overgrown forest area of the school grounds didn't really float my boat, to say the least. The next day I found out that 3 previous foreign teachers who worked at the same school were given residency in the 'government house' and all left after a couple of days due to it being dirty and uncomfortable - this made me feel less bad for asking to move!

 

 My roommate